Mute functions are common in voice applications, such as telephone calls. Mute functions for telephone calls allow a user to temporarily cease one-way audio transmissions to other participants of the telephone conversation. Thus, a user may continue to hear the audio transmissions of other participants while blocking the user's own audio transmissions. Mute may be employed by a user to mask a temporary disturbance such as a sneeze, cough, or other distraction. The mute function also allows a user to have a private conversation with a third party while engaged in the telephone call with another participant.
Mute functions are desirable in telephone applications, in part, because they can be used furtively. Other participants to a telephone conversation often have no idea that a mute function has been invoked. This allows a user to disguise a distraction or engage in another activity during a call. However, for videophones, a user cannot surreptitiously invoke a mute function because the other participants to the video call can visually determine if the user is not actively participating in the video call by observing that the user is having another conversation with a third party or has left the viewing area of the video camera.
Conventional attempts to mute video applications involve the closing of the camera aperture so that other participants to the video application are presented with a blank screen. Therefore, conventional attempts to mute video applications alert other participants that the user is not actively participating in the video call.